JOHANNESBURG - South African Deputy President Thabo Mbekidenied a rumour circulating in New York financial markets that Central Reserve Bank Governor Chris Stals is to be fired. Mbeki said in a statement that Stals would serve out his full term, ending in July, 1999.
UNITED NATIONS - Forces loyal to Congo President Laurent Kabila deliberately killed Rwandan Hutu refugees, sometimes with Rwanda‘s support, in the campaign that brought him to power a year ago.
MOSCOW - President Boris Yeltsin postponed two meetings on Wednesday to monitor his government‘s efforts to combat Russia‘s acute financial crisis. Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko appealed to the lower house of parliament to quickly approve austerity measures needed to tackle a financial crisis.
SHANGHAI - U.S. President Bill Clinton toured Shanghai‘s huge stock exchange, giving China a pat on the back for its market reforms, but he said the country still had a long way to go on opening up its markets.
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Ezer Weizman called a halt on Wednesday to a bitter public row over Israel‘s approach to stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
TOKYO - An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale rocked central Japan on Wednesday, causing minor damage to more than a dozen homes. There were no reports of casualties.
HONG KONG - Hong Kong celebrated its first anniversary under Chinese rule on Wednesday but festivities were dampened by the economic crisis gripping this former British colony.
ASAKURA, Japan - If a hotly contested electoral race in Japan‘s heartland is any indication, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) may be in for trouble in this month‘s Upper House polls.
ABUJA - A mini-summit attended by the presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will take place with Nigeria‘s new military ruler on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON - A U.S. F-16 warplane fired a missile at Iraqi air defences after an Iraqi anti-aircraft battery locked its radar onto a British plane patrolling a no-fly-zone.
BAGHDAD - Iraq said the U.S. missile attack on its radar site was „an aggressive and unjustifiable action“ which might lead to a new all-out assault against Iraq.
GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemala‘s president vowed to track down a heavily armed gang that briefly kidnapped a family of U.S. evangelicals, as troops scoured thick jungle in search of the culprits.
ST ETIENNE - Sporadic fighting erupted between England supporters and French youths after England were knocked out of the World Cup by Argentina.
WASHINGTON - The United States is letting huge World Bank loans and private sector investment to India continue despite last month‘s defiant nuclear tests, cushioning the blow of its own economic sanctions.
A grand jury investigating the White House sex scandal heard from Linda Tripp, the woman who triggered the inquiry by taping Monica Lewinsky‘s talk of alleged intimacies with President Bill Clinton.
BELFAST - The new Northern Ireland Assembly, elected to nurture a fragile peace, meets for the first time on Wednesday in the shadow of fresh conflict.
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed concern at recent violence in East Timor and called on the Indonesian authorities as well as community leaders to help ease tensions.
